Daily Times

Urdu literature, especially Urdu poetry, is largely known by or identified with ghazal – primarily a lyrical form that originated in Arabic literature and having traversed an extended route in Persian, landed in Urdu. Apart from having a specific formal structure, ghazal possesses an essential aesthetic core, i.e. taghazzul that encompasses its diction as well as its thematic make-up. This aesthetic core has somehow developed a metonymic relationship not only to non-ghazal poetry in Urdu but also to Urdu literature and to a great extent, to the Urdu language itself. As a consequence, Urdu poetry is generally taken by an outsider, no matter in which genre it comes, for something of or like a ghazal. This hermeneutic fallacy is as widespread as it is deep-rooted. Lately, a senior university teacher from India wrote a sort of essay on Faiz’s poetry. Throughout her write up the lady kept referring to our poet’s famous poem, Mujh Se Pehli Si Muhabbat Mere Mahboob Na Maang, as a ghazal. Well, ghazal is the foremost popular and arguably most important form of poetry even in the present-day Urdu literature, but Urdu literature is, to be sure, much more than ghazal.

While thinking of ghazal, one inadvertently thinks of mushairas – the poetry gatherings – an institution that was once attached to and patronized by art-loving kings and nawabs, but, in the wake of the changing socio-political set-up and the overall democratization, has entered the common public sphere. This transfer has engendered yet another change: the development and growth of humorist poets. This is not to suggest here that humorist poetry was previously terra incognita in Urdu. There has been a quite remarkable streak of humorous and satirical verses in Urdu. And, despite the fact that traditional Urdu poetry, especially Urdu ghazal was almost always prone to be pensive, if not morbidly anaemic, humour, in its many different sub-genres; satire, parody, lampoon, etc, has all along been there as its important feature. Ghazal, too, was not entirely free from the comic vision, though here, in most cases, it has manifested itself in the form of a tragic-comic dialectics. To generate a distinct effect of humour and satire other forms of poetry were also available.

In the post-classical era, Akbar Allahabadi arguably touched the highest point in our humorous poetry. A major reason for his excellence in the genre may be his being first and foremost a poet

About elegy – the genre most distant from humour, there was a popular perception among (ghazal-) poets: Bigra Shaaer, Marsia Go (A failed poet turns to writing elegies). But, in case of a religious elegy which was a form more frequently used in Urdu, the poet used to consider his poetic pursuit an exercise in a virtuous deed – to be rewarded in the Hereafter. Although, very often he got rewarded, thanks to the believing royalty and nobility, even in this world. Humorous poetry has, on the other hand, a sheer secular character. Besides, a poet per se in the princely courts was a figure quite apart from a jester, a professional entertainer adept at making witty remarks.

In the post-classical era, it was Akbar Allahabadi (1846-1921) who arguably touched the highest point in our humorous poetry. A major reason for his excellence in the genre may be traced in his poeticity, that is, he was first and foremost a poet – humorous or otherwise. His non-humorous poetry lags in no way behind his humorous stuff. You may, at times, differ with him, but he had a vision that he transmitted quite effectively into his chiselled, chaste and immaculate idiom. Iqbal, in the beginning, traced Akbar’s footsteps, but he did not go far in that direction.

After Akbar, there was a downfall of humorous poetry in Urdu. We have Syed Muhammad Jafri, Syed Zameer Jafri, and Dilawar Figar, indeed there is a long line of poets that came after him, but despite the fact that many among them manage to maintain a certain standard, their endeavours leave a great deal to be desired.

The bleak era of the martial law imposed by Gen Ziaul Haq (1977-1988) was, perhaps, the most fertile period for a mushroom growth of humorous poets – almost all with unbearable kitsch – barring one: Anwar Masood. Whatever psychological reasons may be for this abrupt upsurge of comic vision, in the last few years a whole host of such poets have arisen alarmingly, but the literary quality of this lot has remained at the same level, if not declined. In the given scenario a typical practitioner of humorous poetry mostly versifies trite jokes targeted pitilessly at powerless house wives or similarly vulnerable segments of society and in order to gloss over or compensate the poetic deficiencies and lingual clumsiness, he comes with his funny grimaces, comic voices, and ridiculous gesticulation.

This is the type that was considered traditionally, and even in the recent past, a pariah in the general mushairas. Now, it is not only the one eagerly sought after, but also reasonably paid for. On top of it, the fraternity has already started having their own, exclusive,mushairas. State-sponsored and private electronic media also host special events: Mazahiah Mushairas, especially on the eve of religious festivals. On one of such occasions, indeed on a Baqar Eid, one TV channel had the audacity of bringing such poets with bhands – the traditional jesters and clowns – on one stage.

Surely, an affront to bhands – an exceptionally talented group of artists bestowed with an equally marvellous wit.

Recalling de Gaulle’s portentous advice about incompetent politicians, one can say that humorous poetry is too serious a matter to be left to the half-witted jokers.

The writer is a Pakistan-born and Austria-based poet in Urdu and English. He teaches South Asian Literature and Culture at Vienna University